La Vie en Rose
by gnails
Summary: KakaIru The eventual build up of an abnormal relationship as Iruka and Kakashi watch life through rose colored glasses.


Usual copyright disclaimers apply here.

_Iruka sees life through rose-colored glasses._

A/N: My first attempt into the Naruto fandom realm, and this is very un-beta'd so beware. This was originally going to be a one-shot, but it decided to stretch itself into either a two-parter or a three-parter. It's weird, it's a little out of character (I think?). All I can say is that KakaIru is the most non-canon pairing in Naruto, but it's soooo much fun!

* * *

**Part 1**

Iruka thought that at the age of 25, life was normal (well, as normal as a ninja's life could possibly get), and since it had been normal for the past several years or so, he thought his life would continue to be relatively…normal.

Oh, how so very wrong was he.

It all really began when Iruka, who from routine had used up all of his toothpaste, was left standing in a bedraggled state and in a local drugstore, looking for a simple tube of mint toothpaste in the early vestiges of what originally was going to be a good Saturday morning in May. A perfectly normal activity, Iruka mused. When the chuunin spied a prestigious ninja standing at the front register counter, Iruka could never really swallow the idea that someone like _him _was spending his early Saturday in the same drugstore Iruka habitually shopped at.

As for the said prestigious jounin, well, he definitely wasn't there for a tube of toothpaste.

"Rubbing alcohol, gauze, cotton balls, aspirin, ibuprofen," a silver-haired man listed off some more items, "bandages, sprain wrap, uh…" Kakashi paused. "Do you have some hydrogen peroxide?" The middle-aged clerk quirked a gray eyebrow. Staring at the jounin, he remembered what his old man told him years ago. _You don't ask ninjas anything. Just sell, get your money, and get it done._

"Yeah," the clerk finally answered. Kakashi brought a finger to his clothed mouth before pondering for a moment. Iruka spied over racks of canned soup and dehydrated miso broth.

"Oh yeah, some dog food so Pakkun doesn't bite my head off again." Kakashi's visible eye curved upward in a happy arch. "And that's it!" The clerk wondered if Kakashi had mistaken the pharmacy as a pet store.

Kakashi waited for the older man's reply. The clerk was thinking of other ways to support his family instead of serving oddball shinobi before saying, "All right Hatake-san, I'll be back with your things in a moment." With that, he disappeared behind blue cloth hanging down from a wooden doorframe.

In the meantime, Kakashi casually leaned against the counter, tapping his bare fingertips on the wooden top of the counter. Iruka looked at a mass of silver hair before comparing the difference between orange-mint toothpaste and sweet-mint toothpaste. At least the covers looked nice. The quiet shop's atmosphere was stifling to Iruka who had always been intimidated by the sheer chakra of _the_ Copy-Cat Ninja. Not only that, Iruka remembered that he and Kakashi were on bad terms ever since their argument before the chuunin exams. Not bad terms, per se. More similar to…not really speaking at all for several years. And because of that, Iruka always had to deal with an awkward and silent exchange whenever he somehow randomly encountered Kakashi.

Iruka never knew why their relationship was like that, and more importantly, why it stayed like that. Perhaps it was because both of them just didn't have the time or effort to figure out why.

_Wow_, Iruka thought, _it's been a long time._ But it wasn't if they were good friends before the chuunin exams. Iruka shrugged and pushed the thought aside. Yet, there was something intriguing about the jounin that was forcing Iruka to stay deathly hushed and still instead of picking out a stupid tube of toothpaste, paying for it, and going on his way.

He watched with strange fascination at the mask that covered half of Kakashi's face and the cobalt eye which was beginning wander towards various shelves and racks. Iruka ducked his head down before Kakashi could suspect the chuunin was inspecting him. Iruka counted the several toothpaste and packaged toothbrushes in front of him, trying to move all attention away from the other man to the neat boxes of floss in perfectly straight rows. Iruka stared and stared.

"Yo."

"Huh?" Iruka suddenly turned around.

And there he stood face to face to Hatake Kakashi, Iruka's imminent threat that could force him into a state of total ineptness. _Stupid stupid stupid_. Why didn't he notice that Kakashi was _right_ there? His ninja instinct had abandoned to him no avail.

"Iruka-sensei, are you trying to make toothpaste move by sheer will?" Kakashi asked smoothly.

"Ah…Hatake-sensei." Iruka's mouth curved into a strained smile, "I didn't notice you there." Half-truth. Iruka knew Kakashi was in the store. He didn't notice how close the silver-haired man was until that very moment. Iruka berated himself. He was an academy teacher for godssake. He had skills _honed_ to perceive these things.

"Hmm." It sounded like Kakashi didn't believe him. Kakashi's hands were resting in his pants pockets, and his slouch was one of pure ease. The jounin leaned forward by a mere centimeter. Iruka leaned back in response, his shoulders hitting wooden shelves. He was getting a little alarmed at Kakashi's curious trespassing of personal space.

Iruka hated being in unusual positions, especially the one he was in now. He mentally cursed the other man and was losing patience while Kakashi stared at him with a solitary droopy eye. Iruka watched with widening eyes as Kakashi inched his face closer until his cheek was brushing Iruka's burning ear.

_What the hell!_

He could hear his heartbeat with each staccato thump, and he could feel Kakashi's warm breath ebb and flow against his now (probably) reddening ear. When Iruka finally found his voice, his lips cracked open.

"Ha-Hatake-sensei?" Iruka squeaked. He stood there, stiff as wood, as dozens of possible scenarios and replies and remarks ran through his mind. But alas, even after years of experience and training with fast reflexes, Iruka did not know what to do.

"Iruuuka-senseeei," Kakashi said in a soft sing-song voice. Iruka gulped.

"Wha-what the hell are you doing?" Iruka mustered up the rest of his voice. "And why the hell are you so close to me?" He placed both hands on Kakashi's chest and shoved the jounin with a forceful push. Kakashi fell back a few steps, and Iruka swore that he saw him smirking under the dark mask.

"You were staring at me."

Kakashi watched amusedly as all the blood drained from Iruka's face, leaving him very pale. _Oh crap oh crapohcrapohcrapohcrap._ The brunette weighed his options: admit he was staring and forever endure torment from Kakashi, or lie about it and continue to bicker with Kakashi. Both choices seemed very ominous to Iruka.

"I need to pay for my toothpaste," Iruka muttered, averting his eyes to the floor. He grabbed a box of grape-flavored toothpaste and paced past Kakashi, saying a mumbled "'scuse me".

The chuunin was blushing furiously while staring at the brown wooden counter and the cracks in it. Questions flew through his head at mach speed. _Why was he staring? Why wasn't he acting normal around Kakashi? What in the world is taking the clerk so effing long?_

Iruka watched from the corner of his eye as a figure stepped beside him.

"You know," Kakashi started, "I was actually wondering if you wanted to go get breakfast with me."

Iruka would not meet the other man's eyes. From the tense stance and terse shoulders, the tan man was furiously fuming because a very important epiphany had finally peeked through the befuddled mass known as Iruka's mind. Hatake Kakashi, _the_ Sharingan Kakashi was _teasing_ him as if he was a measly little school girl. The nerve of that guy!

And now he had the balls to ask him to _breakfast_?

Kakashi whistled, waiting for Iruka's reply. He smiled under his mask, watching Iruka clench his fists tightly. Oh boy was he having fun with this.

After a long and what seemed like a deathly pause for Iruka, Kakashi asked, "Soooo…you wanna go or not?"

Iruka was irked even more so, but one must remember, Iruka is a patient and kind academy sensei. So with his stiffest formality, Iruka turned to the jounin and a tight smile spread across his face. Kakashi languidly observed.

"No thank you." Iruka forced each syllable out, and the words hissed through gritted teeth. His opinions of the legendary shinobi next to him had changed drastically within the past five minutes, strengthening Iruka's possible choice to never _ever_ speak to the pale man _ever again_ after whatever happened near the dental racks.

_Screw the toothpaste._ The toothpaste box dropped onto the counter with a dull thud, and Iruka swiftly turned around, and walked towards the entrance of the shop.

"Oi, where are you going?" Blast the man. Iruka twitched before turning to face Kakashi. The chuunin's lips were pressed in a hard, thin line. Kakashi stuffed his hands into his pants pockets. "Breakfast? With me?"

Iruka exasperatedly stared at Kakashi. "Why? We aren't exactly drinking buddies nor are we really even friends. Please enlighten me Hatake-san."

"Hmm. Well, I think that we're both devoid of some of company and have been for while."

"You nearly molested me." Naruto's exaggerations were rubbing off on Iruka.

"No." Kakashi looked up thoughtfully for a moment. "I just invaded your privacy a teensy-weensy bit." Kakashi lifted up his hand to his face and squinted his eye at the minute length between his raised thumb and index finger for a good measure. Iruka wanted to smack him, but his inhibitions signaling a definite _no_. Kakashi felt chakra crackle and flash while an uncomfortable Iruka suppressed all of his rage.

"No thank you." Iruka really tried to smile, but it just would not work.

"Ara…well, truthfully." Kakashi scratched the back of his head. How could he word this? He sighed, and Iruka finally realized the dark bag which marred Kakashi's skin under his eye. "I'm sorry if I scared you there, but I really am just looking for some company. Naruto's pretty much dead tired from yesterday's training, Yamato had to go…" Kakashi finished the sentence with a wave of his hand. "And it seems like I'm the only jounin that doesn't have anything to do…"

Iruka raised his eyebrows in realization. After learning to hone into reading children's expressions, speech patterns, and actions, Iruka finally understood that the man in front of him was a little…_lonely_. His anger dissipated as his mouth let out a small chuckle.

"Then what was with that close encounter there?"

"I'm sorry. I tease all of my friends." Kakashi shrugged. "I know you and I are more like distant acquaintances, but I really couldn't help it." His eye happily arched.

Iruka laughed. "Yeah I guess some company would be fine, and a break would be nice every now and then."

"Yeah, I agree."

"Oi Hatake-san," the clerk yelled out from the back of the store, "we're out of medical supplies."

"That's what took you so long?" Kakashi yelled back.

"It's my stupid son! He mistook the soup stock box as medical box!" The clerk appeared and walked up to the counter. "Another shipment will arrive soon, so come back later." The clerk picked up the tube of toothpaste on the counter and dropped it behind the counter.

Kakashi looked back at Iruka who was waiting by the door. "Yeah, no problem. Thanks anyway!" The shadows of a grin appeared on his mask. Kakashi followed Iruka who opened the door, and they both walked out to the street. The morning sun greeted them and Iruka saw how wonderfully colorful Konohakagure was. Perhaps his Saturday morning wasn't going to be too bad, bedraggled state and all.

"Ichiraku for breakfast Kakashi-sensei?" Iruka inquired. The jounin didn't laugh or even question Iruka's odd choice for breakfast.

Instead, Kakashi looked up to the blue sky and felt that his day was going to be a good one. He smiled and turned his head to Iruka.

"Sure."

-----

They talked about politics, students, weather; normal things that made Kakashi feel warm and fuzzy inside. Stability and normalcy never went hand in hand with the jounin's job description. Or his life for that matter.

Kakashi concluded that it was because Iruka had that ability to make people feel comfortable. He had an easy and communal personality. It was no wonder why Iruka was chosen to be a top-notch academy teacher. Yet as the jounin analyzed each informal mannerism in the man sitting next to him, the chuunin's life would be deemed as rather normal by his peers (per se in terms of the shinobi ethics), and it most likely was.

Even so, Kakashi knew in the very back depths of his mind, no ninja is normal.

It nagged at him while Iruka openly laughed at Kakashi's dirty jokes. Iruka asked for another bowl of ramen while Kakashi finished his first bowl in a mere second. He placed his mask back while the same irksome thought dug itself even deeper into the shinobi's mind.

"Iruka-sensei." Kakashi folded his arms on the tabletop.

"Hmm?" Iruka queried between mouthfuls of ramen before muttering, "God, I love ramen…"

"Would you consider yourself normal?"

"Eh?" Iruka slurped up a stray noodle. He gave Kakashi a quizzical expression. "Where did that come from?"

Kakashi thumbed his chopsticks. "Observance." Iruka nodded slightly.

"Well." Iruka pondered for a moment. "Lately, I've considered my life kinda normal. I have this constant routine. Get up, get ready, go to work, go home, grade papers, sleep. Over the summer, it's almost the same because Godaime wants me to work in the missions room. And it has been some time since I've gone out on a serious mission…I dunno. I actually like the normalcy."

"I can understand why." Kakashi signaled for another bowl. He was curious. He didn't want to leave just yet.

Iruka sighed and set down his bowl. "I suppose, knowing so many people who are extraordinary like Naruto, I sometimes miss the parts of life where I would live each day by the day. Ever since I've become an academy teacher, I can't exactly do that anymore." The tan chuunin lifted a cup to his lips. "Hmm."

"I don't believe that you can be normal if you are 'shinobi'," Kakashi pointed out.

"That is very true Kakashi-sensei."

Iruka thought little of Kakashi's unexpected inquest. The two shared a relaxed silence. It had been ages since Iruka had enjoyed a meal with a friend. His ramen buddy had always been Naruto and his exuberant stories, but it was different this time around. Iruka never thought Kakashi was the social type.

On the other hand, Kakashi always assumed that Iruka was a relatively standard chuunin, but as they say, _look underneath the underneath_. The jounin snorted under his mask at old, traditional, and orthodox teachings which never helped everyday life. Perhaps, he just needed more normal friends to come home to.

Iruka stood up and dropped a few bills onto the counter. "I gotta go and grade some essays. If it's a good day, I won't get nude pictures of girls scribbled all over the paper."

Kakashi smiled. "Pesky little brats, aren't they?"

"You received the worst brats I've taught," the brunette said with a grin.

Kakashi slowly raised himself up from the stool and arched his back, stretching his arms toward the ceiling. His last mission left him with a few cricks in large areas of his body.

"Since you're leaving, I'm going to go enjoy myself with the latest volume of Icha Icha," the jounin merrily included. Kakashi expected Iruka to splutter or at least blush with a very luminous color spread across his cheeks. However, the chuunin poignantly lifted an eyebrow before resigning himself with a sigh.

"Don't read porn around the kids," Iruka warned. He lifted the Ichiraku flags hanging from the roof's edges and walked out with a small wave to Kakashi.

Kakashi's fingers uncurled in a small good-bye, and his dark eye watched the other man stride away.

He hooked a finger around his mask and peeled it off his face. A ghost of a smile appeared on his lips.

"I'll be seeing you around."

-----

What began as a shaky acquaintance eventually grew into a solid friendship. Iruka noticed that he 'bumped' into Kakashi more than necessary. Sometimes at the store, on the street or even at Ichiraku. Yet the chuunin never minded it. Simple and casual meetings (A cup of sake perhaps) began to turn into planned get-togethers (Dinner after work? We'll split the check) which then turned into long hours during the weekends (There is no way we are playing shuriken tag _again_). Iruka even began to completely and utterly forgive his friend for their initial and accidental run-in. The academy teacher found himself enjoying Kakashi's companionship more and more as months flew by and as seasons changed from green to red.

"I have miso!" Iruka bellowed into a wooden door which happened to the gateway to a roomy bachelor apartment. "No saury though. Ran out of money." The brunette pounded his fist against the door. He stopped after the wood began to splinter slightly and then shifted a plastic bag of steaming food from his left hand to his right.

"What is taking you so long?" he muttered exasperatedly under his breath. His ears sharpened when he heard muted footsteps thud against polished floor.

"No tempura?" A muffled voice asked hopefully from the other side. Iruka rolled his eyes.

"No tempura," Iruka parroted. "But I still don't understand why you had to go and throw away _all_ of it."

A lock unlatched with a click, and the door swung open. Iruka was greeted with the sight of an off-duty Hatake Kakashi. The jounin lacked his thick vest, ANBU gloves, and weapons pouch while his silver hair dripped unceremoniously from a hot shower. His headband slanted over his sharingan eye and was tied in a clumsy knot. Kakashi adjusted his mask, bringing the edge of the dark cloth to the bridge of his nose.

"Because it was nasty," Kakashi said. He wiped his hands in a white towel and then threw it around his neck. The chuunin watched Kakashi greedily grab the plastic bag and pad bare-footed to his kitchen.

After taking off his sandals, Iruka's eyes slowly moved from side to side, staring at the spacious apartment and whistling in a low tone. Iruka unzipped his flak jacket and flung it to a couch.

"It's always so _clean_ and _neat_," said an awe-inspired Iruka. He plopped himself down at the low-rising table inconspicuously set in the living room. The brunette saw quality pieces of furniture scattered in the room (fireplace included) and an assortment of _sumi-e_ scroll paintings hanging from the walls. A single, healthy green plant in a pot and two framed pictures of Team 7 and what looked like Kakashi's and his teammates' own young faces stood on windowsill opposite of Iruka. He narrowed his eyes, deciphering chicken-scratch writing on the plant's pot. Etched on the outer rim was the name 'Mr. Ukki'. The edges of Iruka's lips quirked oh so slightly.

"Put your vest in the coat closet!" Kakashi yelled from a hidden kitchen.

Iruka gave an irritated expression towards the doorway connecting to the kitchen. "Put your vest in the only coat closet that exists in Konoha," he mockingly muttered under his breath.

"I _heard_ that!" Iruka had forgotten that he was in the presence of one of the most skilled ninjas in the village.

He scooped up his flak vest and padded to a sliding door in the right hand side, close to the front door. Iruka took a coat hanger from the nearly empty closet (save for one winter coat and a hastily knitted scarf) and hung his vest. He walked back to the table and promptly plopped down on his rear end.

A wooden bookcase stood behind him against the wall. Discovering the large amount of books, Iruka turned around and brushed his finger against the worn spine of each book. "Icha Icha Paradise, Icha Icha Violence," Iruka named off several volumes of the Icha Icha series. After the top shelf, the chuunin lowered his neck to the next shelf full of hefty books. "The Art of War? The Tale of Genji…"

"Remember to put back the books where you first found them!" Kakashi called out from the kitchen. The sounds of clanking kitchenware followed.

"Can I have your apartment?" Iruka plainly asked.

"No," the jounin dryly replied from out of the room, "I'm sorry your paycheck can't buy you a bigger place."

Iruka snorted. "Says the infamous copy-cat ninja to a lowly teacher."

"I can't help if our income differences are gargantuan," the other man retorted with an amused tone.

Iruka sighed defeated and shifted to face the table. He propped his hands behind him and leaned back, barely touching the bookcase. His vision swooped around and saw various types of weaponry carelessly lying on top of a bureau. Kunai, shurikin, and then…A katana gleamed merrily, tempting Iruka to unsheathe it. His fingers twitched when he averted his eyes to a comfy looking sofa. The katana gleamed more so in the corner of his eyes. Iruka looked again. _Aw, to hell with it._

Iruka wiped invisible dirt off his pants and walked to the bureau. He gingerly curled his fingers around the handle and gripped the scabbard. The sword came out with a beautiful _shing_. Iruka placed the scabbard back on top of the bureau and then carefully held the katana with both of his hands. He slowly twisted his wrists, watching the edge of blade rise up and down. He tested his grip and the maneuverability his arms. Iruka awkwardly slashed the open air and then again and again. The chuunin's pace quickened as he began to remember the rhythm of the sword. A fluid diagonal slash, a faster single-handed swipe. The ball of his right foot gradually pivoted. He raised his arms above his head and started on a series of careful movements. First a thrust, a dodge, thrust, dodge…It began to complicate and accelerate as Iruka's confidence returned. A dodge, a thrust, a parry, another slash, block, duck and Iruka felt like he was moving like water again with each articulate strain of his muscles. He let out raspy breathes, the intricate exercise winding him rapidly. He twirled with the katana whipping against the air.

His brown eyes widened when he halted, the katana poised menacingly at his eye level.

"Hmm." Kakashi raised a slender eyebrow, looking down at a gleaming yet fatal tip barely pressing against his Adam's apple.

"Oh crap!" Iruka exclaimed, stumbling into the bureau. "Gods--" The chuunin retracted the katana and then hastily shoved the sword back into its scabbard. He hurriedly put the sword back to its rightful place. "I'm really sorry, I didn't mean t—crap!" A flustered Iruka ran a shaky hand through his now messy hair. Kakashi stood nonchalantly in the doorway with a tray of a kettle and two teacups balanced in his hands.

A pause settled itself in the room. Iruka's red face stared at the ground while his hand continued to run through stray strands of hair.

The other man calmly strolled to the table and settled the tray down. He busied himself with pouring steaming tea into the teacups.

"Where did you learn that?" the jounin asked while pouring the hot liquid. Iruka's head snapped up.

"Ah," Iruka hesitated. "Years ago, when I was with the ANBU."

Kakashi slid one of the teacups towards Iruka. By response, Iruka set himself down, facing the other man. He picked up the cup and stared at his own face in the tea.

"When were you with ANBU?" Kakashi inquired, trying to hide a significant amount of curiosity. Iruka took a sip of his tea and pondered.

"Two years after chuunin exams, so that makes it…when I was eighteen. I left when Sandaime offered me a job at the academy. " He looked at Kakashi, and the other man stared back with a droopy eyelid, wondering exactly how he got the assumption that Iruka was painfully normal. "You probably never thought I was in ANBU." The brunette chuckled awkwardly.

"No." Kakashi put an empty teacup on the tray. "Your swordplay—it's different from ANBU training. That sort of motion, I've never seen it before." _Was that a compliment?_ Iruka slightly smiled nevertheless. He breathed in deeply and then dropped himself onto the floor, lying flat on his back.

"I had a crash course in ANBU training. The main instructor was too much of an ass to help possible candidates." Kakashi nodded sympathetically. "Got help from an ANBU operative that was there. He had a…mask on." Iruka motioned his hands above his face, imitating a mask. "I don't know what it was. A dog I think?"

Kakashi hands stopped midway to the teapot.

"He knew _everything_. I was able to perfect my shaky katana technique after he taught me some better basics. It saved me more than once while I was on ANBU missions." His excitement died when he sighed, pushing aside simmering thoughts of porcelain masks, blood, and rotting flesh. "Anyway, didn't get see or hear much of who he was. It was close to pitch black because it's good for 'extreme situation simulation'," Iruka coiled his fingers into air-quotes and then crossed his arms and laid his head on his hands. He closed his eyes, listening to the silence and Kakashi's muffled breathes. A long pause ensued.

"You know what?" Iruka said out of the blue.

"What?"

"I'd like to thank him one day."

Unbeknownst to Iruka, Kakashi was grinning madly under his mask.

-----

"I say we go get some sake tonight!"

"No."

"Why is he always the party pooper?"

"And his nose so deep in the pervy orange book of his."

"So oh great one, what are you doing tonight?"

"I bet! My eternal rival is going to try to perfect his skills for our next match of wits!"

"There's no elemental training for Naruto tonight. Even I had time to come out."

"Look 'ere Yamato, Kakashi just isn't cool enough to hang with us."

"Shut up Genma."

"He might be correct if you are pathetic enough to decline because you wanted to spend time with your belov--"

"I'm hearing this from a jounin who was beaten in shougi by a _fifteen_ year old?"

"Alas, Kakashi, my eternal rival. You should not be so unhappy because of your previous defeat."

"Stop acting so crabby."

"Anko."

"Yeeees?"

"Shut up."

"Where's Raidou?"

"He had to do some other…stuff."

"Oh, hey isn't that the academy teacher?"

"Oh yeah. Whatshisname?"

"Umino Iruka."

"Wow, look at all of that paperwork in his arms. I could never be a sensei for a bunch of badly skilled mini-ninjas of terror."

"Heeeey, he works with you doesn't he?"

"Yes, he does."

"Kurenai liiiikes Iruka."

"Quiet."

"Why is Kakashi getting all defensive? Oi, wai—wait, Kakashi, where are you going?"

"There he runs. How predictable."

"Whaddya mean Asuma?"

"He means that Kakashi-san might have a small…infatuation of sorts with…"

"Umino-san!"

"Iruka!"

"That _guy_!"

"I must admit, my rival is acting _particularly_ giddy around Umino-san."

"Although, Iruka doesn't even have a clue."

"He's smart. He'll figure it out sooner or late. The bigger question is when is Kakashi going to jump the poor man?"

"No way in hell. Iruka would kill him first."

"I say Umino will flat out reject him. What about you Gai?"

"Well, as much as I have confidence in my rival's allure, I say Umino-san has no interest."

"Knowing Umino Iruka…Kakashi's too eccentric for him."

"Mmmhmm."

"I believe that Umino-san likes Kakashi-san."

"Whaaaaa Yamato? That makes no sense whatsoever."

"How about this. If Yamato's wrong, he'll pay for everyone's sake every weekend. If Yamato's right, we'll each pay for sake _and_ dinner."

"Sounds good."

"Superb."

"Okay."

"That's fine."

"Ah…might as well."

"Hah, speak of the devil. How was your conversation with your boyfr-ahem-I mean Umino?"

"Why are you all smiling?"

"Oh it's…nothing at all. So, sake everyone?"

-----

From May to October, it began to turn into December. And when Iruka came home from work, expecting a quiet and uneventful dinner-slash-work, he unwillingly came to discover two unexpected guests in his messy apartment. More like two and a half because Anko just loved dangling her upper torso off of Iruka's window.

The chuunin gazed at Kakashi out of the corner of his eyes while chewing on a red pen. The jounin moved about restlessly in the tiny living room, picking up different articles and shoving them all into neat piles for later reorganization. Iruka couldn't help if he was busy and that it was mundane work. It was their fault for coming over on a Monday night.

Anko rolled around on the windowsill because Kakashi still hadn't made the first move and Iruka still hadn't noticed. She was a hard-working kunoichi and dammit, she pinched coins and tightened the strings to her purse because of her thrifty spending of dango and sake. Naruto, however, was uncharacteristically calm as he was pouring over Iruka's teaching scrolls in hopes of finding a shortcut to his ultimate elemental attack. He muttered and mumbled the readings while taking sloppy notes.

"Unlike water, wind elemental attacks have a natural tendency to be erratic. Most wind users have an uncanny ability for chakra control which sometimes has taken years of training. The best way to control wind is to understand the free-flowing environmental chakra which--" Naruto scratched his head and leaned back defeatedly. "Maa, Iruka-sensei. Don't you have any scrolls that'll help?"

"For elemental control? Take a look at the jounin-level scrolls," Iruka said without looking off the genin application in front of him. He lifted his red pen and pointed it in the general direction of a cupboard which gave Naruto a peek to a mass of untidily stacked scrolls. "Mm, you might have to dig for it. I forgot exactly where I put it." Kakashi took a glance at the cupboard that was marred with years of abuse and coffee stains, and Iruka picked up on the barely perceptible and disapproving clucks the silver-haired man made.

"Where's your broom?" Kakashi stared at dust bunnies rising from a corner with nuisance.

"Dunno." Iruka scribbled something about the student being horrendous at genjutsu. "Anko, get out of the window. I'm not spending more money for heating and that wind is freaking cold."

Anko gracefully swooped in from the window, and two and a half guests became three. The kunoichi closed the window behind her with a soft clack. Kakashi inched closer to a grimy wooden chest that looked like it hadn't been moved in eons. He grabbed one of Iruka's dirty shirts and promptly started to whack away the dust from it.

"Kakashi!" Iruka cried. He ran over and snatched his shirt out of the other man's hand. "Dammit, no more cleaning!"

"Awww, but Iruka," Kakashi whined, "your place is so _filthy_!" Anko subtly widened her eyes. Those two were like a bickering married couple, and _what was up with that informal name use_?

"No! If you're that bored, go and…file papers for me." Iruka huffily moved himself back to his previous position. Kakashi frowned under his mask. He _loathed_ paperwork. So instead, he let his hands wander over the chest's clasp and unhooked it. Kakashi scrunched his nose at the thick smell of aged belongings and leaned to look at what was inside.

Vinyl records in tinged cardboard cover slips sat idly in the chest. The edges of the covers were torn, and the pictures had yellowed over time. Faded images of blossoming music artists, instruments, and vanishing characters on the covers forced Kakashi to interpret the words on each of the records. He cautiously picked one up.

"Huh. It's a jazz record," he softly said to himself. He slowly let his fingertips follow the words of some lyrics printed on the back of the record.

"Well, since you're all prudes and so boring, I'm off." Iruka never took his eyes off of his work while raising an arm in good-bye to Anko. Naruto brightly smiled and jovially waved. Kakashi ignored her. With that, Anko gave one last look at Kakashi and then at Iruka. _Pleaseeee reject him._ She jumped off of the window and flew over rooftops, her figure fading into the night.

"One down, two to go," Iruka whispered to his papers. He glanced at Naruto who was hunched over a scroll talking about chakra control. "You know Naruto." The blonde tore his eyes off of the scroll and looked at Iruka. "If you were this willing to do research _at the academy_, you probably would've found the answer by now," he hinted.

Naruto hastily rolled the scroll up. Iruka-sensei was waaaay too unorganized. He had better luck at the academy which held one of the biggest libraries in Konoha (Unfortunately, Naruto had never even stepped foot into it before).

"The academy's not open right now," the chuunin casually added, "try tomorrow morning."

"'Kay. I'm gonna go see Sakura at the hospital first." Naruto picked up his jacket and put it on.

"Tell her I said 'hi'," Iruka reminded him.

"Bye Iruka-sensei!" Naruto warmly waved, and Iruka waved back. "Later Kakashi-sensei!" Kakashi simply lifted his forearm in response.

Naruto ran over the matted floor and hurriedly sprinted through the front door. The door closed in a big wham behind him.

_Two down, one to go._

Iruka picked up the stack of papers and shuffled them. He put them back into a manila folder and slowly stood up. His knees groaned in protest from sitting in one position for so long. He reached out his arms to the ceiling and stretched his back with a long yawn.

Iruka exhaled and saw Kakashi rummaging through a chest. The brunette rolled his eyes.

"What are you doing now?" Iruka took two steps and leaned over Kakashi's shoulder.

"Never knew you were into jazz." Kakashi handed Iruka a record. The chuunin's russet eyes lighted up in nostalgic recognition.

"Yeah. These were my mom's." Iruka sat himself down next to Kakashi, their shoulders bumping into one another's. He reached over Kakshi's arm and pulled out another old record from the chest. "She would play them all the time when I was younger up until Kyu…" Iruka's throat suddenly constricted, and Kakashi didn't pry. After a spun out moment, Iruka cleared his throat. "This one was my favorite."

Kakashi compared the record in his hand to the record in Iruka's with a single eye.

"Have you ever listened to _La Vie en Rose_?" The jounin sat still while Iruka shrugged his shoulders.

"I dunno. Maybe?" The brunette thought of the long repertoire of jazz music he knew. He shook his head. "I haven't listened to these for years. My record player broke."

Iruka then hears Kakashi gently hum a tune, and lets his back slacken in ease. The jounin's throat deepened the song with a profound masculinity, but the tender tune reminded Iruka of his mother and of the times when he would watch his parents dance to languid saxophone melodies and brassy trumpet harmonies.

Kakashi felt Iruka's shoulder lightly lean onto his while he hummed quietly. He closed his eye.

"…and life will always be, la vie en rose," Kakashi softly ended the song.

"What does it mean?" Iruka bent over a little, picking up another record, and looked at Kakashi expectantly. The other man opened a handsome cobalt eye.

"What? La vie en rose?" The jounin arched his head back and closed his eye again, just thinking. "Hmm. It's in a foreign language spoken by the lands in the far west. When I was at a port, one of the sailors was from there. That was where I first heard the song and he told me it meant 'life in pink'."

Iruka snorted a stifled chuckle. "Sappy."

"You're the one with a record album titled 'Love and Happiness'," Kakashi quickly remarked with wit. Iruka chortled. The jounin stretched out his arms in front of him, lacing his fingers together. "Life in pink," he trailed off. The chuunin thoughts also trailed off with Kakashi's sentence.

"It means to see or feel life with content or happiness," Iruka distractedly included, staring off into the wall behind the chest, "like saying you see life through rose-colored glasses."

"Rose-colored glasses? Where the hell did you get that from?" the jounin asked skeptically.

"Got bored reading proverbs about rice and bamboo and chopsticks when I was a kid." Iruka shrugged his shoulders. "Couldn't help it. Between the pranks and not studying, I read every single book in the academy library when I was enrolled."

Kakashi scratched his head. Within the past months, he realized that Iruka was actually _quite_ smart when it came to any unknown details about _anything_. Good thing he was a teacher. "Any more random facts wondrous walking encyclopedia?"

The academy sensei rolled his eye and quipped, "That was a lame one."

"What? That was a good one!" Kakashi replied with a wave of his arms.

Iruka smirked and rubbed the back of his neck. "Get some better insults."

"Whatever." The jounin supported himself up with his right arm and fluidly stood up. He stretched his legs experimentally and moved his neck left to right, trying to loosen it up. Kakashi picked up a stunningly orange book with dog-ears on its pages and bends on its binding which was sitting innocently next to Iruka's student reports.

Iruka stacked several records on top of each other and set them inside the chest. He shifted onto one knee and lifted himself upright.

"That reminds me," Kakashi said while picking up his vest from the floor, "I'm going to be gone for a month." He faced Iruka. "I'll be doing some basic recon over near Kemurigakure." He thrusted his hand into his pant's pocket and sifted through a few coins. "I need you…to—where is that stupid..? Dammit." Kakashi angrily dug through his pockets until his hand came out victorious with a key dangling from a keychain. The chuunin noticed that the keychain was in Icha Icha's obnoxious orange and had a saucy picture of a risqué woman. "I need you to take care of Mr. Ukki."

Kakashi extended his arm and deposited the key into Iruka's tan hand. Pale fingertips lingered in Iruka's palm for a brief fleeting moment. Before Iruka could respond, Kakashi's hand was already shoved deep into his pant's pocket. The brunette clenched his fist around the key, feeling his skin tingle and burn at a mere second's touch. The chuunin cleared his head. It was nothing, nothing at all.

"Take care of your _plant_?"

"I can't trust my landlady. Last time I was gone, she nearly killed Mr. Ukki _and_ stole one of my Icha Icha Violence books."

"Fine," Iruka reluctantly agreed. He followed Kakashi to the front door.

"You'll be okay." Kakashi slipped his sandals on and wrapped one of Iruka's scarves around his neck. "I should be back sometime before Christmas eve."

"Riiight. This time when suggest the idea of getting food after your mission, I'm not paying for ramen. I waited three hours at Ichiraku when you got back!"

"Oi, I said I would be there!"

"Yeah, at seven. You arrived at _eleven_."

"I told you I was help--"

"Out the door now." Iruka opened the door for Kakashi. "I need my dinner."

Kakashi walked towards the door before suddenly turning around. "Remember, three cups of water, and I expec--"

"Out. _Now_." Iruka shoved Kakashi into the chilly weather. He didn't argue with the irritated brunette.

"Ja ne."

And so Hatake Kakashi formed some hand seals and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Damned jounin," Iruka fondly purled while fingering the key in his hand.

-----

"It's freaking December twenty-fifth at one a.m. in the morning and even Naruto went home!" Iruka yelled into Kakashi's impeccably clean apartment. Only silence replied back. Umino Iruka wasn't worried. Of course not. It was just the idea that Kakashi was only a _few tiny hours_ late. He said he would be home before Christmas Eve. Iruka paced in front of the couch. Why was he so agitated then?

Iruka stopped walking and flopped onto Kakashi's large and rather comfy couch. His legs swayed back and forth in the air. And soon Iruka realized he was bored. He already read all of the books in Kakashi's shelves (including the naughty ones) due to the many hours he would involuntarily spend in the apartment just lying around. Iruka did have enough common sense _not_ to poke around the other man's personal belongings. Yet, whenever he had a spare chance, he would run and leap over buildings to Kakashi's apartment complex and simply waste countless time feeling so at home. Kakashi's ease and the remnants of friendly banter would emanate from the atmosphere whenever Iruka took a single step into the place. The brunette made sure that he would not turn the apartment into a messy hole out of respect. _Are you sure it's respect Iruka?_

"Gah." Iruka threw his hands over his eyes. Lately, it seemed like his mind liked to question everything regarding his and Kakashi's relationsh—no, friendship. Ever since Kakashi left Iruka with an ambiguous encounter of fingertips, Iruka over-analyzed to every little extent that the simple touch meant. He had still yet to convince himself that it—was—nothing because any trained ninja knew that it was not just nothing. Or perhaps he was presently thinking too much about it, and it really was nothing. Or was it something? Or nothing? The question tormented his mind throughout the whole day of Christmas Eve, even while he drank sake with co-workers in a crowded restaurant filled with strings of small light bulbs and ate a special treat of incredibly pricey sushi with Naruto. His mind digressed.

It wasn't as if he actually was interested in Hatake Kakashi. _Or was he?_ They were colleagues. Friends. Very good friends in fact. They enjoyed company. That was it.

And how many hours did they enjoy company? Iruka counted on his fingers. One hour on weekdays, up to five hours on weekends, and during holidays, they would spend about two hours acting as drinking buddies.

"Gods, that's a lot of time." Iruka slapped his palm against his forehead. He was seriously thinking too much. He needed Kakashi back to distract him.

"It all comes down to this," he said aloud to no one, "it's purely platonic. Purely platon—oh who the fuck am I kidding?"

In the past month with the absence of one Hatake Kakashi, Iruka finally admitted the growing attraction he had for Kakashi. But it wasn't purely attraction; it was something _much_ deeper that Iruka didn't want to face or admit. And Iruka knew because of that, he was _totally_ screwed.

"I mean, it only happened because he's gone," Iruka tried to comfort himself. "When he gets back, nothing will happen." He stood up from the couch and began to pace again, this time towards Kakashi's bedroom. "Because I never felt anything when I was around him. I think." Iruka sighed and then dropped himself on Kakashi's bed. Denial was a hard thing to keep up. The chuunin yanked at his ponytail and ran his hand through his hair. He slipped off the band around his hair and let brunette strands fall around his head. Iruka scratched his now loose hair. The clock on a white table next to the bed solemnly ticked for each passing second, then minute, then hour.

"Where are you?" Iruka yawned.

He rolled over onto his stomach and inattentively noticed how soft the pillow was. He felt his eyelids become heavier and heavier as his eyesight faded away. Hmm. It was probably nothing. Just over-analyzing. Just over-thinking. Just…Kakashi must smell nice. The pillow smells nice. Fresh green. Farmland. Not like roses. La vie en rose.

The memory of a tune hummed in a mellow and mellifluous baritone voice began to lull Iruka to the edges of dreamland.

"Damn you," he groggily grumbled. His last thought was something in the lines of love and Kakashi.

And before he knew it, Iruka was out like a light.

It began to rain that night.

----

The clock ticked and tocked to the pitter and patter of rain hitting a roof.

The window adjacent to a bedroom slid open, slick from water falling off of it. A shadowed body silently jumped from outside into the tranquil room and onto the floor when he noticed Iruka sleepy soundly on his bed. He peeled off a porcelain mask covering his face and quietly placed it on a bureau. He then untied the scabbard strap to his katana that was wrapped around his chest and freed his weapons pouch that was securely tied to his right thigh. The weapons cluttered on the rug.

Kakashi rubbed his throbbing sharingan eye and let the palm of his hand follow the scar that jaggedly bisected his eye. He gripped the arm-pads on his forearms that had suddenly gained more weight due to the rain that fell against his skin. They each fell with a dull thud. His silvery hair matted against his scalp, pearls of silky water dropping.

His sore muscles made it difficult to take off his chest armor. He twisted his torso, and the bloody slash on his abdomen screamed wildly in pain. Cringing at the tender spots on his body, he excruciatingly unclasped the buckles on his armor, and the chest protector finally fell off. Kakashi took off his long sticky gloves and roughly threw them into a laundry basket. He stripped off his skin tight under-armor much to the protest of his aching muscles, revealing a pale and toned torso that was covered in bandages soiled with caked, dry blood. Kakashi noticed that the wraps were unraveling and tightened the bandages around his abdomen.

He chucked off his sandals while slowly stepping towards the side of his bed. The mattress groaned under his weight when he sat down. Iruka suddenly moved in the bed with silhouetted sheets snaking around him. He turned toward Kakashi and buried his head into the pillow, letting a word flow out of his mouth and then smacking his lips.

The jounin's chapped lips formed a mysterious smile. He let his fingers run through Iruka's free flowing brown hair and brushed stray strands out of the other man's face. Iruka murmured again, a transient word. Kakashi then leaned over Iruka's sleeping face, his ear trying to hear what the chuunin was saying.

"Kakashi." A breathless name.

"Fuck, you're so goddamn cute," Kakashi purred with a raspy voice. His cracked lips inched closer to Iruka's parted mouth. He could feel Iruka's breath mingle with his in sweet warmness. It antagonized him. Kami-sama, he _wanted_ him _so_ bad.

A pause and before he understood what he was doing, Kakashi brushed his lips against Iruka's in a chaste kiss. He had too much self-control.

Amid a desperate sigh, Kakashi lifted the covers and set himself gently down next to Iruka.

His eyes closed to the sight of a quiescent Iruka, his arms loosely draped over the smaller man's hip. Kakashi nestled in the blankets and moved closer to the other man until he felt his face barely touching Iruka's bare collarbone. He basked in the brunette's warmth.

With another unsteady sigh, Kakashi fell asleep next to Iruka.

----

Iruka woke up to the rhythmic sounds of rain constantly falling on the roof. He felt amazingly content in the warm bed, a feeling he hadn't even grasped since he was a carefree child. He cracked one eye open, his focus still hazy from lethargy. His eyesight was greeted with a gray ceiling, dark lights, and a placid atmosphere. Iruka closed his eyes and let his mind waft to the serene pitter-patter and dark clouds outside, welcoming Mr. Sandman once again.

However, Iruka's eyes shot open when he felt something or…_someone_ stir beside him, hidden beneath blankets. His mind snapped away from the half-asleep state it had been in, and Iruka was much too keenly aware of someone breathing down his chest.

Iruka's hand mindlessly groped around him until he clutched a pale arm languorously lying on his hip. He dropped it in an instance. Iruka's eyes widened and his breathing hitched. He bent his head down and saw familiar bush of silver hair stick out from the covers beside his chest.

"Mmm," the heap of hair groaned and then curled closer and tightened his arms around Iruka.

The chuunin fumbled his fingers on the covers and slowly lifted it, trying to anticipate who was underneath. A mismatched pair of blue and red eyes blearily blinked back.

"Hi." A loopy grin appeared on Kakashi's bruised lip, his eyes still trying to get the hazy vision out of the way because adjusting two different eyes was rather difficult. He blinked again while his eyesight cleared, and he really could not figure out if it was one of his nin-dog in front of him or not. The blurry mound of flesh and brown turned out to be an exasperated academy teacher with a scar and a beet-red blush horizontally painting his nose.

One chuunin in fact that made Kakashi to have enough to say, "Oh damn." He blamed his delayed reaction on exhaustion due to the preceding mission.

Kakashi blinked once. Then twice. Iruka stared. _Craaaaaaaaap._

The jounin jumped out of the bed, quickly grabbing a discarded shirt on the floor. He didn't have enough time to sniff it and assess if it was wearable.

"Shit, wow, Iruka. I didn't--" Kakashi struggled to maneuver a stiff arm into one of the sleeves. "Kami-sama…I didn't…" Who made a shirt so complicated to put on? Kakashi stopped as he felt his head begin to spin, and his breathing labored. And Iruka. He sat motionlessly on the bed like a statue, staring up at Kakashi with huge brown eyes. His long hair hung down and was tousled, as strands stuck out at odd ends, like it was the morning after a rough, tumbling, _hot and sticky_ night. Iruka looked so fucking gorgeous.

"What did you say?" A scarlet Iruka gaped.

"What?" Kakashi repeated in his dazed stupor.

"That," Iruka pointed out, "that I was gorgeous." The other adjective was stuck in his throat like honey. Kakashi mentally slapped himself, and then banged his head several times on an imaginary wall. Yet, the room was still spinning around and around and around…

Iruka nimbly caught Kakashi from falling flat onto the hardwood floor. The jounin's head was pressed against Iruka's shoulder, and his knees felt like jelly. Tresses of Iruka's hair tickled Kakashi's nose, while Iruka shifted his arm around Kakashi's bare torso. A half clung shirt lamely drooped from the jounin's pale neck, and Kakashi's arm limply dangled from his side. Iruka could feel Kakashi's dry lips press against the crook of his neck, and the copycat ninja breathed in. Iruka attempted not to shudder.

"I'm fine," Kakashi hoarsely argued. "Let me go," he feebly added.

"You smell like wet dog." And he was burning up. Iruka could feel the heat from Kakashi's forehead seep through the thin cloth of his shirt. Kakashi buried his head deeper into Iruka's neck.

"Nothing says 'I love you' like that beautiful wet dog smell." Iruka gulped. He felt Kakashi sigh. "I'm kidding," the jounin muttered. Iruka let out a breath. He was already trying to grasp the gorgeous part, and the whole love thing was going to make him have a nervous breakdown. Iruka cursed the gods, kami-sama, Buddha, whatever higher power there was for this. He noticed red oozing through makeshift bandages that were already covered and crusted in dry, ruddy-colored blood.

"What recon forced you to have a fat wound across your stomach?" Iruka dryly remarked, trying to shove Kakashi's Freudian slip into a dank corner in his mind. Kakashi snorted, gruffly laughing.

"A-rank, confidential ones."

"Ones that need ANBU operatives?" Iruka did not fail to notice the pieces of armor strewn across the floor.

"Maybe," the jounin teased, forgetting about the dire situation he was in. Kakashi weakly lifted his head to Iruka's ear. He whispered low and guttural with a secretive tone, "But if I told you, I would have to kill you."

"You did tell me, you dumbass." The chuunin could not ignore the spreading blood and another opened wound diagonally slashed on Kakashi's right bicep, underneath his black ANBU tattoo. Iruka draped one of Kakashi's arms across his neck and onto his shoulder, and then turned 180 degrees with one arm holding Kakashi's hand on his shoulder and his other arm looped around the silver-haired man's torso. He heaved Kakashi up to his feet. "Try to walk. It's kinda hard to carry 150 pounds of soft tissue after four years of inactive duty."

"148. I'm sensitive about my weight." Kakashi humorously, if not a little tiredly, retorted.

"Shut up. We're going to bathroom where I can get some fresh bandages." Iruka pulled up Kakashi again and began to slowly walk. Kakashi faltered after a few feet, and the chuunin hoisted him up again. After another several agonizingly slow steps, the pair finally reached the bathroom. Iruka carefully slid Kakashi onto the toilet seat and propped the jounin's back against cold ceramic. Kakashi watched mutely as Iruka scurried around the small room, looking for medical supplies.

Iruka opened the medicine cabinet and was greeted with the sight of many plastic bottles. His eyes scanned over each label. Cough syrup, vitamins. Iruka's eyes stopped at a Vicodin bottle.

"Are you in any pain?" Iruka asked over his shoulder.

"I'm sore."

Iruka continued to search. What was a fever-reducer again? Ibuprofen. He had to have some. Iruka shifted the vitamin and supplementary bottles in the front aside to look at the bottles in the back. The labels were printed in nice bold font, each complete with its own satisfactory warning. And as Iruka listed off each of the drugs, his eyes widened. Valium? Chlorpromazine? Lamotrigine, Fluoxetine, and Iruka counted more and more antipsychotic and antidepressant drugs. Twelve bottles worth of happy pills for the mind. Iruka paled considerably.

"I guess you found the secret stash," Kakashi spoke up after sensing that his friend had discovered something…surprising. Iruka unwillingly turned his head to meet Kakashi's mismatched stare. The jounin was ironically smiling, a sort of curve that didn't reach his eyes. The chuunin guiltily averted his eyes and turned back to the cabinet. Kakashi leaned his head back against the chilly tile of his bathroom's wall, and felt his temperature rise.

"Ne, Kakashi…" Iruka paused. "Where's your ibuprofen?" He rubbed his scar, feeling stress increase and fold upon itself.

"Next to the vitamin C supplements, left side, second shelf," Kakashi replied wearily. His dizziness was now coming full on like a broken dam with a migraine and a sweaty forehead.

Iruka found the bottle and twisted the cap off. He shook the bottle and poured out two white pills into the palm of his hand. The faucet creaked as water gushed out into a glass.

"Here." Iruka's arms handed the pills and water to Kakashi. Wordlessly, Kakashi downed the capsules with one gulp. Iruka looked in the cupboard under the sink, bending down to shift random cleaning supplies to search for a medical kit. The jounin raised an eyebrow, lazily and if not lecherously grinning at the rather nice sight of Iruka's bum in full view. Unfortunately, the entertaining examination did not last long when Iruka found a white plastic box with a decorous red cross.

After setting the box down on the floor next to Kakashi's dirt-coated feet, Iruka finally noticed how wondrously fine-looking Kakashi's exposed face was. A strong, set jaw, a slim nose, high cheekbones covered by light skin, and the chuunin saw the infamous sharingan's glassy gaze, intersected by a haphazard scar reaching from above his eyebrow to his cheek's midline. Fine stubbles grew from Kakashi's face in a pale five o'clock shadow while a feverish blush splashed his visage.

Iruka's mouth hung open as he stared. Kakashi toothily grinned, presenting a full set of straight, white teeth.

"Am I really that ugly for you to gawk at?" the jounin teased. Iruka snapped out of his trance.

"No…just...surprising." He couldn't think of a better word. His toe hit the box, and Iruka remembered that the man in front of him was bleeding profusely. His medical instincts kicked in and Iruka deftly unwrapped Kakashi's bandages while the injured man obediently kept still. Kakashi's right eye twitched when he felt rubbing alcohol sting his gashes, but his mind began to aimlessly wander. He desperately tried to keep his focus straight ahead, at the white tiles on the wall, yet Iruka was a strong distraction. Since Kakashi had noticed this, he couldn't help but to be distracted even more. As he steeled his nerves against the bombardment of stinging pain, Kakashi keenly ignored the hurt and aches only to find himself falling head over heels for Iruka.

And it wasn't as if he wasn't already head over heels for the teacher. It was like a gradual upward slope, Kakashi bemused. Right now, he was at the high peak of attraction for the other man, and Kakashi thought how droll it was that it was happening after Iruka discovered Kakashi's very apparent mental instability. _And_ also after waking up in a very _interesting_ position with their arms wrapped around each other.

Even so, Iruka was still there, fretting over his wounds like a loyal friend (and dare he wish it? Like a lover). Kakashi half-expected Iruka to have ran off, screaming bloody murder to the whole village.

Oh yes indeed, Kakashi was falling in love. The copycat ninja scrunched his eyebrows. Scratch that, Kakashi was _in_ love. The falling part had already passed.

He sorely hoped Iruka loved him. Or at least liked him. However, Kakashi was never the kind of person to get his hopes up.

His thoughts rambled and meshed together in an incoherent string of Iruka, Iruka, and _normalcy_. Stability. Perhaps through his fever-induced haze, Kakashi felt at that moment, everything was normal. Iruka was there, tending his bleeding wounds, trying to swallow the whole drug bit, and a mask-less Kakashi was beaming at him like no other. The jounin always knew he had a twisted perspective on normalcy.

Iruka looked up from his knots on the fresh bandages to Kakashi. "Why are you smiling at me like that? It's a little creepy."

Kakashi's smile widened. "It's funny how we talk and act like everything's normal."

"Is that a bad thing?" Iruka cocked his head to one side in question.

"It isn't normal; ninjas' lives aren't supposed to be normal. When I think about it, you shouldn't be here. You should be screaming about what a pervert I am, climbing into bed with you without you knowing. And here we are, talking like you never knew saw those bottles, and we never encountered what happened when we woke up."

"That's the way we are," Iruka interjected, going back to wrapping bandages around Kakashi's arm, "I remember our conversation after an awkward encounter kinda like this." Ah, the drug store and the tube of toothpaste. "Then afterwards we talked like it was nothing. I'm messed up, you're messed up, but maybe together, we get a sense of what it's like to be…well, I don't know. Normal. I don't know if that's the right word, but it's just you and I, we never had a shred of a normal childhood."

"But the pills--"

"What about the pills? I'm now going to freak out now? Kakashi." Iruka sighed, rubbed his scar, and went back to tending Kakashi's wounds. "The worst of us barely get by with everything we shinobis face. You are a strong healthy-minded ninja. And the drugs, don't fret about it. If you don't want to tell me, you don't have to." Iruka propped himself to look at Kakashi square in the eye. "You can tell me whenever you feel like you need to. About anything," Iruka softly finished with a definite gleam in his eyes. He smiled, and Kakashi saw life become brighter.

When looking back, Kakashi swore that it was the fever that was making him delirious and reckless enough to lean in plant a kiss on Iruka's lips. Kakashi felt his hands grab Iruka's neck, and their mouths locked. It wasn't passionate, it wasn't wild and frenzied. Kakashi poured his admiration, his respect, and his _love_ into the fleeting kiss. Kakashi felt his head spin, and Iruka felt like he was floating. After a split second, the jounin let go, and realized what he had done. This time, he didn't regret it.

Again, Iruka gaped. He comically opened and closed his mouth like a fish, trying to stutter a few coherent words. Kakashi placed his hand around the side of Iruka's neck. The faintest touch silenced the chuunin.

"I don't know," Kakashi swallowed and quietly continued, "If you like me. I can't tell because I've never cared when someone did. Now it does…matter, and I." Why was he such an emotionally stunted person when it came to things like this? "You can reject me, you can yell at me, whatever you want, but what _I _want the most is to have someone to experience that normal life with, even if it's just for short moments or hours begging to play shuriken tag." Iruka softly laughed.

"You regret growing up as a ninja?"

"Never. I just want that thing to make me content, and that content, I've found out, is whenever I feel like I'm just Kakashi. Not the famous Copy-Cat Ninja, or Sharingan Hatake, or the weirdo, distant, jounin with the porn. When I'm just _me_ is usually when I'm with _you_." Life through rose-colored glasses, they both thought.

"You know how sappy you sound right now?" Iruka shyly grinned.

"Of course," Kakashi nervously scoffed, "Though I'm hurt that you're not taking my heartfelt confession seriously," he said in mock-anger. Iruka blushed, and eyed the floor.

"I am," Iruka almost inaudibly said. He watched as Kakashi's face opened in stunned surprise, the barest hope inching its way into his heart.

This time, it was Iruka who leaned in and planted a kiss. His hands swept Kakashi's hair and cupped his face in an endearing kiss. The jounin couldn't be more thrilled and so _happy_. Even if it lasted just for a few passing moments, both men knew that the contact had sealed something between them. Kakashi's hands trailed Iruka's arm, and slowly released himself from Iruka. He closed his eyes and touched their foreheads together, heat emanating.

"So where do we go from now?"

Iruka recognized Kakashi's anxiety and unfamiliarity with what was going to happen from now on. Iruka unmistakably smiled, and Kakashi knew that he was going to be okay.

"Anywhere."

-----

"I think life was pretty boring before we met each other." Iruka tucked the sheets around Kakashi's bed.

"You mean you had a fun life after we met at the teacher's conference?" Kakashi's damp forehead glistened while rain poured freely outside.

"No, you idiot." Iruka pulled the blanket up to Kakashi's neck. "I mean that weird encounter at the drug store, back in May." Kakashi wriggled his toes and shifted his head in his pillows, meeting Iruka's face. He cheekily grinned.

"I thought you were cute," Kakashi said in a blasé fashion. The brunette stopped smoothing out the sheets and glared at Kakashi.

"What!" He spluttered.

"I thought you were cute," Kakashi repeated. Iruka contemplated hurting the jounin in some manner, but remembered that Kakashi was sporting several gashes and a fever.

"Go to sleep." Iruka threw a pillow at Kakashi's face. He walked to the bathroom in search of a towel.

Kakashi grasped the pillow and hurled it off of him, watching Iruka's silhouette move around. He inhaled deeply and felt a lead weight fall on his chest. His limbs were too stiff to even move. His migraine was no longer a huge pulsing hammer, but a throbbing dullness. On a brighter side, the dizziness had subsided a little. Now that he thought about it, he was dreadfully worn-out. Kakashi shut his eyes, feeling serene sleep wash over him.

His eyes fluttered open when something cold and wet was placed on his forehead. He lazily looked up a tad and saw Iruka's face linger over him.

"You're still warm," Iruka said matter-of-factly. He added, "Got you a cold towel."

Kakashi smiled, his lips cracking as they stretched. "Feels nice, thanks." His eyelids drooped, and he licked his mouth. "I don't wanna go to sleep," he mumbled, exhaustion lacing his words.

"I should've forced you to take a shower before I patched you up. You still smell like wet dog." The bed dipped as Iruka sat down next to Kakashi's stationary figure.

"And I still don't wanna go to sleep."

"Then go take a shower."

Kakashi rolled closer to Iruka, placing his head next to Iruka's thigh. "I will if you take it with me." He wriggled his eyes suggestively. A pillow cleanly smacked him in his face. His sharingan peeked out underneath the cushion. Iruka picked up the pillow and discarded it next to Kakashi's head. The jounin gazed up demurely at Iruka's irate face. He nuzzled his nose into Iruka's leg and wrapped his sore arms around the chuunin's waist.

"Don't wanna sleep," Iruka heard him burble, his voice muffled by Iruka's pants.

"You sound like one of my students. Go to sleep."

"No."

"Gods," Iruka exasperatedly said to the ceiling. "Why not?"

"I want to stay awake with you." Kakashi dug his face deep into the crevice between Iruka and the bed. He knew drowsiness was falling upon him, but he had a worried mood because he didn't want to be alone this Christmas. Damn insomnia.

"You think I'm going to leave?" The jounin didn't reply. Iruka's fingers lightly brushed Kakashi's matted hair. He sighed. "You idiot. It's Christmas, you're sick, so I'm stuck here." The brunette sensed Kakashi's lips curve into a smile.

A loud knock snapped Iruka away from Kakashi, as he lifted himself up from the bed and padded to the front door. The impatient knocking increased in volume. Iruka swung the door open, and Naruto stood with his fist up in mid-knock.

"Iruka-sensei? What are you doing at Kakashi-sensei's?" the blonde quizzically asked. Iruka rubbed the back of neck.

"Ah. Kakashi's sick." Iruka couldn't come up with a better answer.

"Oh." Surprisingly, Naruto didn't pry further. "I was looking for you. Sakura and I were gonna go for breakfast and then go to the festival."

"In this weather?" Iruka stuck his head out, noting the downpour and gray, hazy skies behind Naruto.

"Irukaaaa-sensei. It's Christmas!" Naruto whined. "C'mon. Sakura and I were thinking Ichiraku today."

Iruka looked over his shoulder at the doorway to Kakashi's bedroom. "Sorry Naruto, I gotta watch over the lecher today." Naruto wolfishly grinned at Iruka's joke. The chuunin smirked and ruffled Naruto's yellow hair.

"Fine Iruka-sensei. You owe me a dinner at Ichiraku's then with Sakura-chan."

"Sure, sure. Just, don't get a cold in this weather. I'm already taking care of one sick kid."

Naruto confidently smiled, stretched out his arms, and placed his hands behind his head. "I can't get sick!" He turned and then quickly ran off, waving and screaming "Byeeeeeeee Iruka-sensei!" down the corridor. Iruka watched with a wave.

He closed the door behind him and went to check on an ill ninja. Iruka spotted Kakashi, still lying tucked into bed. He tip-toed closer, craning his neck to see a sleeping Kakashi snoring soundly. Iruka let out a small laugh, shaking his head. He noticed an orange book lying on the floor, and other pieces of clothing and armor speckled around. Iruka shrugged his shoulders. He had nothing better to do; he might as well try cleaning for once.

As he picked up Kakashi's soggy ANBU belongings, he discerned a mud-caked mask blankly staring back on the bureau next to the bed. Iruka dropped everything he was holding into a tidy heap in a corner and curiously approached the mask. Iruka picked up the grimy mask and deciphered stylized markings into an animal of some sort. He began to rub off the dirt. Iruka's breath hitched whilst a red-marked dog smiled at him. _So you were the one…_

Iruka tentatively set the mask back on the bureau. He heard Kakashi moan and move next to him. He turned and bent over Kakashi's face.

"Thanks," Iruka whispered and then brushed his lips across Kakashi's.

Kakashi cracked a blue eye open. "You're welcome," he groggily replied. He then promptly shut his eye. Iruka's mouth upturned. Things were looking pink now, and he didn't want it to end.

Iruka straightened his back and combed his fingers through his hair. He went back to productively cleaning up the bedroom in the quietest way he could, albeit Kakashi was still awake. He hummed and swayed as he busied himself; his mouth shaping imaginary words that he didn't know.

Kakashi watched under droopy eyelids and long eyelashes, translating Iruka's lips. His own mouth unconsciously moved, synching with Iruka's effortless melody.

"…la vie en rose."

Kakashi fell into a peaceful slumber to Iruka's song.

**End Part 1**

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All constructive criticisms and suggestive comments are much appreciated! 


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